Santos The Ocelot and His Buddy Blakely

This is Santos, an 11-week-old ocelot kitten. Santos likes to hang out with his best buddy Blakely the dog, and when they play together, it is sooo cute!

An Ocelot is a wildcat and is sometimes called the Dwarf Leopard. They look a lot like the domestic cat, except for their fur, which looks similar to a jaguar or leopard’s. Because of their fur, they have been hunted extensively, and were at one time on the endangered list. They live in South America, Central America, and Mexico, and are sometimes seen in the southern-most parts of Texas.

Ocelots are very territorial, and will fight, sometimes to the death, over territorial disputes. They tend to hang out alone, except that occasionally they will share a resting spot with another ocelot of the same sex.

Females normally breed only once every other year, and usually only have one kitten, although like humans, they will sometimes have two or three kittens.

Santos and Blakely met in the nursery at the Cincinnati zoo, and soon became BFFs.

Here they are wrestling with a stuffed animal.

Santos takes a break from playing with Blakely to chase a tennis ball. Source